The invention relates to sealing a plurality of columns for performing liquid chromatography analyses.
Liquid chromatography is a technique for separating the individual compounds that exist in a subject sample. In employing the technique, the subject sample is carried in a liquid, called a mobile phase. The mobile phase carrying the subject sample is caused to migrate through a media, called a stationary phase. Different compounds will have differing rates of migration through the media, which effects the separation of the components in the subject sample. Liquid chromatography is commonly performed with reusable or disposable columns, both of which are usually cylindrical, in which the media bed is bounded axially by porous plates, or by plates containing defined flowpaths, through which the mobile phase will flow. (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,708 to Leavesley, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,035 to McDonald et al.)